tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77989860209745311302018-01-17T13:28:43.807-08:00Planet ProspectPlanet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-8770436722617561472018-01-12T07:37:00.000-08:002018-01-12T07:37:05.237-08:00<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">mini review<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><b>The Collapse of Western Civilization&nbsp;</b></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </i><i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A View from the Future<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway</div><div class="MsoNormal">Columbia University Press 2014&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 89 pages</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Humble in appearance, this little book packs a wallop.&nbsp; Purporting to be written in 2093, the premise poses the question: why did the Western world early in the century fail to act on its knowledge of imminent environmental collapse?</div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Authors Oreskes and Conway do a wonderful job of invoking the bewildered voice of their fictional historian. They answer the question, too:&nbsp; the “uncertainty” perpetrated by the fossil fuel companies and their cohorts (“the carbon combustion complex”) took hold of the imagination of a public addicted to conspicuous consumption. </div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Organized in three chapters, the book includes an Epilogue, a Lexicon of Archaic Terms, and an interview with the authors (Oreskes is professor of the history of science at Harvard; Conway is a historian of science and technology at the California Institute of Technology).&nbsp; Also included are four future maps showing the disappearance of the Netherlands, Bangladesh, New York City, and Florida. </div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chapter 1 studies how people knew what was happening but were unable to stop it. International talks and funding of the EPA for example were countered by a backlash of denial. “It is clear that in the early 21<sup>st</sup> century, immediate steps should have been taken to begin a transition to a zero-net-carbon world. Staggeringly, the opposite occurred.” </div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chapter 2 covers the persecution of climate scientists, and the obstacles presented by narrow disciplines impeding “investigation of complex systems.” Social order begins to break down beginning in 2041, when “unprecedented heat waves scorched the planet, destroying food crops around the world.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chapter 3 directs blame at “positivism and market fundamentalism.” Scientists’ traditional insistence on empirical knowledge had little impact on economic and technical policies. Market fundamentalism resulted in the dominance of the carbon combustion complex and the public’s “quasi-religious faith” that free markets were the only thing not threatening personal freedom. “The idea of managing energy use and controlling greenhouse emissions was anathema to the neoliberal economists whose thinking dominated at this crucial juncture. Thus, no planning was done, no precautions were taken, and the only management that finally ensued was disaster management.”</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You will have to read this brilliant, intense little book twice—it is that rich.&nbsp;</div>Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-48763605054871066902017-05-21T09:14:00.001-07:002017-05-21T09:14:33.264-07:00<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Press release&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; April, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Contact </span><a href="mailto:kbsep22@verizon.net"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">kbsep22@verizon.net</span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Another gripping eco-thriller! Announcing the publication of <b><i>The Hampshire Project,</i></b><i> </i>the final novel in <i>Resilience: A</i> <i>Trilogy of Climate Chaos</i>. Young Terra must battle the evils unleashed by rampant climate change, from mass migration to autocracy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">In 2082, capitalizing on fear and deprivation, a self-serving elite is taking over all surviving communities. Will Terra be able to find the father she never met amid the chaos and deception? What will happen if she does?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">“My books are meant as a warning, not a prediction,” says Kitty Beer. “But they are based on real possibilities as our planet melts. These are primarily stories about love and family, people braving disaster.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Kitty Beer’s stories and articles have appeared in print and online in the U.S. and Canada, including her work as an environmental journalist. Her screenplay, <i>Home</i>, placed in the 2004 International Screenwriting Awards contest. She is a member of the National Writers Union and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Beer grew up in New England and raised her two children in Canada, Germany, and upstate New York. She holds her B.A. from Harvard University, and her M.A. from Cornell University. Having traveled extensively, she now makes her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is active in political and environmental efforts.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">The Hampshire Project </span></i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">is the third novel in the trilogy about climate change. The first two are <i>What Love Can’t Do</i> (2006) and <i>Human Scale</i> (2010). All three books are published by Plain View Press, a 40 year old literary publishing house focusing on issues of sociopolitical importance. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; #############<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Testimonials for <i>The Hampshire Project<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">“If you are prone to believe that even severe climate change will be well managed, that future governments will calmly move cities inland, providing good jobs in construction and engaging our better selves, Kitty Beer will turn you inside out. The compelling, gutsy characters, the cults and marauding private armies, the Prudential Tower poking out of the Boston Sea and other vivid landscapes, are horribly credible. If Beer’s trilogy, set in the 2040s, 2060s, and continuing here in the 2080s with <i>The Hampshire Project</i>, can’t inspire you to action, nothing will.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Robert Socolow, Princeton University, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and co-director of Princeton Environment Institute<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span style="background: white; color: #1a2a37;">“Kitty Beer's latest novel, <i>The Hampshire Project</i>, third in her<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #1a2a37;"><br /><i><span style="background: white;">Resilience</span></i><span style="background: white;"> trilogy, offers a foreboding, forbidding, vision of a future,<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">post climate change New England. What was once the proud city of Boston<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">is now underwater, victim of major rise in global sea level. Anarchy<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">reigns. Fresh water is in short supply, available only to those who can<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">afford to pay. Droughts, heat waves, violent storms and devastating<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">tornadoes define the new normal. Could this be the future? Hopefully<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">not. <i>The Hampshire Project</i> sounds a prescient warning though that the<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">potential for disruptive change in future climate is real: it is not a<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">hoax as some would suggest. Should <i>The Hampshire Project</i> raise public<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">consciousness as to the need for action to address the climate issue,<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">that would represent an important bonus. The book is a great read. I<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background: white;">recommend it with enthusiasm and without qualification.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #1a2a37; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Michael B. McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies, Harvard University<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">“<i>The Hampshire Project, </i>the conclusion of Kitty Beer’s powerful trilogy of an environmentally dystopian future, is a wake-up call we owe to our great-grandchildren to heed. But beyond being a chillingly plausible vision of a ruined Earth, this is a tale told with subtlety and compassion. She offers fully formed characters who leap off the pages, by turns surprising us and angering us and eliciting our sympathy and understanding. In <i>The Hampshire Project</i> novelist Kitty Beer asks, and answers, the question that lies at the heart of all great fiction: How do we live in the world we have been given?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Charles Coe, author of </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">"All Sins Forgiven: Poems for My Parents;" Artist-in-Residence for the city of Boston<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">“A dystopian sci-fi novel imagines a future New England crippled by pollution and under the control of ruthless corporate patriarchs.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">--Kirkus Reviews<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-88782254081389507772017-03-04T13:22:00.002-08:002017-03-04T13:22:39.561-08:00The Hampshire Project: new novel in the series, Resilience: A Trilogy of Climate ChaosMy third novel The Hampshire Project is in the works at Plain View Press, due out on Earth Day, April 22.<br /><br />In 2082, 17 year old Terra is on a quest to find her father, while battling the evils of rampant climate change. You can find wonderful testimonials, as well as a Kirkus Review, on my website kittybeer.net. I'm very proud of this book and hope you will read it!Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-76814543663059616772017-03-04T13:11:00.003-08:002017-03-04T13:11:51.082-08:00The Hampshire ProjectPlanet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-72274833938259221902016-07-20T06:19:00.000-07:002016-07-20T06:19:03.873-07:00"People over Pipelines!"<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp;I'm reporting on two recent occasions when I joined protests against Spectra Energy's natural gas pipelines being constructed locally.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;On June 23 I joined the group fighting the pipeline in West Roxbury. Neighbors and environmentalists have exhausted legal recourse, but the movement is still growing. Now the cry is, "Shut it down, or the people will!"<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;We gathered in bright morning sunshine in a nearby clearing. Those choosing to get arrested grouped separately for instructions. Signs ranged from "Keep it in the Ground!" to cardboard flames. Then we all marched to the construction site, located in the middle of a pretty street lined with houses. (Besides adding to climate change by providing more gas to burn, this pipeline is located very near a quarry where dynamite is blasted.) Bulldozers and concrete mixers, some ten workers and as many cops awaited us. We numbered about 90 folks. Two by two, those aiming for arrest ran past barriers to sit on the edge of the trench being dug. The paddy wagon pulled up and they were handcuffed and loaded in, all of us cheering them on.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;Once in a while the workers started pouring concrete again, but they kept having to stop, and stood around looking bewildered. The cops all acted kind of tired: this was so routine; everyone on both sides knew all the moves. I believe that the arrests that day totaled 46. My feelings were anger, pride, and gratitude at sharing in this vital effort.<br />&nbsp; On July 18 I joined the protesters who had just spent days marching 43 miles through the towns where Spectra is installing the pipeline. We met at the State House in Boston. As we lined the street, two trucks hired by Spectra kept driving by flashing signs saying gas makes jobs. Of course we jeered them. Then we filed into the State House--all 400 of us--to rally, the Grand Staircase jammed with our shining faces. Two legislators joined the speakers, emphasizing that even our Attorney General says "we don't need this gas."<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;Especially targeted was the pipeline tax. Unbelievably, taxpayers are expected to pay for the construction, in a fee added to their electric bills.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;After the rally, delegates visited legislators' offices, and then all of us headed towards Gov. Baker's office. As we often chant, "This is what democracy looks like."Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-37019886543413030042015-11-07T07:28:00.000-08:002015-11-07T07:33:58.141-08:00<b>Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality:</b> On Care for our Common Home<br />Pope Francis, 2015<br />Introduction by Naomi Oreskes &nbsp; &nbsp;Melville House &nbsp; 151 pages<br /><br />For this proud Unitarian and passionate environmentalist, Pope Francis' plea is beautiful. Brave and brilliant, it illumines the path we are on and where we must go with loving eloquence. He sees the truth and dares to tell it, with never a touch of either condescension or doubt.<br />In her introduction, Harvard Professor of the History of Science Naomi Oreskes, best known for <i>Merchants of Doubt,</i> her scathing book equating the tobacco and oil industries, compares this Encyclical to <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin </i>and <i>Silent Spring</i>, similar "calls to action," She summarizes his "two lines of thought" as mutual responsibility and denunciation of market fundamentalism.<br />In his Preface, Pope Francis calls for "a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet." Mother Earth "cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her."<br />In the subsequent six chapters, he covers pollution (our "throwaway culture"), destruction of forests and oceans, the rupture of social cohesion, unlimited growth ("based on the lie that Earth's goods are infinite"), our technical paradigm ("cult of unlimited human power"), and "a consumerist view of human beings," all while denouncing our "spiral of self-destruction." Throughout, he equates care of creation with care and respect for the poor, who are exploited by the same consumerist mindset.<br />Admittedly, he slips in a few references to embryos, which will annoy some people. But this is a call to action addressed to the entire human race, and as such avoids a Catholic focus. This wonderful Pope, both hard-hitting and gentle, is the visionary leader many of us have hungered for.<br /><br />Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-5968754228227928682014-06-22T13:03:00.000-07:002014-06-22T13:03:53.743-07:00The Social Conquest of Earth mini book reviewThe Social Conquest of Earth mini book review<br /><br /><br />Edward O. Wilson 297 pages<br /><br />Liverright Co., W.W. Norton 2012<br /><br />This book succeeded in changing the way I look at human beings. Wilson develops an argument that we are basically group creatures. We’re wired to function in and through groups, not like wolves for example, in packs, but like ants in their nests. We act to favor our group more often than our individual selves. Yet there is always this conflict between self-interest and group benefit. <br /><br />The six sections of the book range from mesmerizing to humdrum, depending on how interested you are in insects. The first one hundred pages covering human evolution are brilliant and exciting. Wilson has a unique angle on our development, from chimps and Neanderthals through tribalism and teams, tools and fire through villages and agriculture. He makes persuasive use of new insights from DNA studies. <br /><br />Unfortunately, the middle of the book gets bogged down by his passion for ants. He posits that ants invented what he calls “eusociality,” generations organized into groups through division of labor. Their fortified nests enable some members to stay home with young, and others to venture forth for food for all. I advise skimming for the second one hundred pages.<br /><br />Wilson returns on page 191 to answer the question, “What is human nature?” He looks at gene-culture cooevolution, longterm memory, the origins of language, and crucial collaboration. He tackles the origins of morality and honor, religion, and art. He comes to the sweet conclusion that, if we can only stop destroying it, “Earth can be turned into a permanent paradise.”<br /><br />Wilson writes lucidly with a fiery intelligence. He deserves his vaunted reputation. <br /><br /><br /><br />Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-71029056879445162652013-08-29T07:56:00.000-07:002013-08-29T07:56:59.172-07:00mini review: EAARTH: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben St Martin's Griffin, New York&nbsp;2010, 219 pages<br /><br />This book takes a daring leap. Bill McKibben steps out beyond the warnings we're getting all the time now, documents the damage already irrevocably done to our planet, and presents us with a vivid, compelling picture of the revolutionary way of life we must choose.<br /><br />We no longer live on the Earth we were born into, McKibben says, but on a transformed, more hostile planet he calls Eaarth. In this new world, with its "spooky, erratic climate," it's too late to repair the damage. "We don't know how to refreeze the Artic or regrow a rain forest."<br /><br />McKibben wants us to "break the growth habit," jettison our consumer ways, and downsize to "a different kind of civilization." Then he shows us how. <br /><br />The second half of <em>Earth </em>is a compelling, sometimes thrilling, evocation of the future he believes we'll have the smarts to accept. It's already happening in places like his beloved Vermont: we are treated to charming vignettes, including his village diner, farmer's markets, small farms, neighborhood self-reliance, and "community-supported energy." The world that comes next will be one of "dispersed and localized societies that can survive the damage."<br /><br />The premise of <em>Eaarth </em>is that rather than continuing to tumble wildly into oil and coal induced disaster,"we might choose instead to manage our descent." <br /><br />McKibben's style has a folksy, "gosh darn" tone that makes his arguments easy to follow, but does not hide his incredible guts or scalpel intelligence. He is a great leader. Let's go where he's taking us.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; #######<br /><br />McKibben's next book is on the verge of appearing. The title is <em>Oil and Honey. </em>I can't wait. Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-92087540775392295242012-08-27T08:12:00.000-07:002012-08-27T08:12:21.003-07:00The Bridge at the Edge of the World book reviewThe Bridge at the Edge of the World:<br />Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability<br /><br />By James Gustave Speth Yale University Press 2008 237 pages<br /><br />Thesis: “The planet cannot sustain capitalism as we know it.”<br /><br />This is a brave and brilliant book. Not only does Speth cover the broadest consequences of environmental destruction, he attacks consumer capitalism as the culprit. Then he goes on to specifics about its successor, “post-growth society.” In addition, he has woven into each of his arguments the points of other authors, bolstering his thrust with their input. The result is a compendium of dozens of great minds. It’s an exciting, uplifting, in your face experience for any grateful reader who cares about the future. <br /><br />The twelve chapters and three parts are heavily weighted in favor of solutions. He’s not kind to current environmental groups, which he deems too timid and too limited. “Working within the system will not succeed when what is needed is transformative change of the system itself.” What he’s after is a change of consciousness, and he details the steps required. <br /><br />“The capitalist economy is inherently a growth economy,” Speth points out, and “growth is the enemy of environment.” But, he argues, we can make the market work for the environment. Among forces for this are: shifting taxes, incorporating environmental cost in product price, dismantling damaging subsidies, and using a true measure for economic welfare. He favors “ecological economics,” wherein “sustainability is defined in terms of not exceeding assimilative and regenerative capacities.” He calls for recognizing “the real sources of human well-being,” including more leisure time, job security, health and retirement benefits, consumer protection, progressive taxation, and a huge investment in education. <br /><br />Further, Speth contends, it’s essential to abandon our “growth fetish” and our addiction to consumption, and to completely transform the corporation. “Corporations are capitalism’s most important institutions,” he says, and “profoundly dangerous.” For one thing, they are “unaccountable”—there are no restrictions on them. He sees “corporate greening” as a solution, requiring government action. Most important is changing the legal mandate requiring corporations to pursue their own self interest and shareholder primacy. Corporations need a “public purpose.”<br /><br />Speth wants to see capitalism evolving, to “recover the security and integration of pre-modern societies.”<br /><br />Heady stuff!<br /><br />Yes, Speth wants nothing less than “a new consciousness,” a “new politics,” and “a reorientation of values.”<br /><br />A real and effective environmental movement will expand its agenda to fight the consumer commercial lifestyle, challenge corporations, stress human rights, and oppose inequality—via grassroots politics. Let’s, says Speth, have an Environmental Revolution! <br /><br />I find this book so exciting because it charts a course through what I’ve been feeling, thinking, and experiencing over some years. My only reservation comes from the question: how can a movement that touts as its major principle the Golden Rule, take on the entrenched interests of corporate capitalism, the “American Way Of Life?” Isn’t such a view just Utopian? Speth’s reply is that business as usual is the real Utopian delusion. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-11409617537969446512011-12-22T06:54:00.000-08:002011-12-22T07:17:22.770-08:00No Goodbye to OccupyI visited Occupy Boston twice. The first time, a few weeks after it began, the weather was warm and there had been heavy rains. But there were sturdy paths of cardboard and wood between the tents. I wandered around, and the guy manning the Medic Tent invited me to sit down while we chatted. As we talked, someone came by to ask, "Do you know where the Spirittual Tent is?" and was directed there. Everyone I met was friendly and welcoming, glad I was there, but casual too. The atmosphere both times was open, amiable, comfortable. There was no question of bad smells or litter. I counted about 120 tents.<br /><br /><br />My second visit was in December, just days before the group was evicted (none of us knew that at the time). I went to the Library Tent to donate my novels. It was very large, lined with books on every side, shelves all labeled. The guy in charge suggested I inscribe the books to Occupy Boston, "so that later people will see that and you'll make history." He told me about a troublemaker who'd been bothering people, and complained that the police refused to stop him . At this point the City had prevented the delivery of a sink and a winterized tent, clearly pressuring the protesters to leave. The City wouldn't even allow them to bring in a port-a-potty (which they paid for); so for bathrooms the group had to cross two busy streets to South Station.<br /><br />But the same friendly, welcoming atmosphere prevailed. I was so proud of those people, proud they are Americans. In the end, I was proud of Mayor Menino too. Although I can't forgive him forbidding the port-a-potty, in general I think he handled the situation with respect and constraint.<br /><br />To all those courageous protesters, wherever you are: I salute you and urge you on. You inspired us and changed the dialog in this country. You are pioneers in bold and refreshing directions. I am grateful to believe you represent my America.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-46952216458826170082011-02-19T09:00:00.000-08:002011-02-19T09:11:40.512-08:00More About SnowIn Boston this winter we've had huge, amazing quantities of snow. Lots of people are continuously complaining about it. I myself, though sometimes inconvenienced, have been enjoying it. I loved the first blast, observed from inside my cozy home. The wind was so fierce, it drove the snow sideways. We had a nice fire going, and drank mulled wine.<br /><br />Ignoring my car the next day, I let it repose under its white blanket while I made my way in warm boots to the busstop. On the bus I observe the streets with new eyes, and enjoy the many types getting on and off. In subsequent weeks, as the snow descended again and again, I did my grocery shopping in the neighborhood. I made do at times by raiding my own pantry and coming up with inventive recipes. I fed the birds and squirrels who visit my back deck, and bought fresh flowers for my living room.<br /><br />Now mid-February brings longer days and stronger sunlight. My city is still piled everywhere with snow, dirtier by the day as it slowly melts. There's a touch of spring in the air. Aren't you glad you don't live in boring Florida?Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-47752149516089908082011-01-22T14:34:00.001-08:002011-01-22T14:53:21.097-08:00mini book review: WATERWater, A Natural History by Alice Outwater<br />Basic Books 1996 186 pages<br /><br />This is a story of the relationship between water and land. "Water is the blood of land."<br />Outwater's tone is at once affectionate and reverent. From prairie dog lifestyle to scientific stats, the book is readable and enlightening.<br />In many ways, it's a tragic story. The author takes us back to the 17th century fur trade, the beginning of the end for the plentiful beaver. Lost too are the ecological benefits from the beaver's lifestyle, which forms dams, ponds, and wetlands. "A land with hundreds of millions of beavers is a truly rich land, and the wetlands associated with beaver dams made the New World's water plentiful and clear as the dew."<br />After decimation of the beavers, that of buffalo, prairie dogs, and alligators followed, as did the way in which each species benefitted the land. Forests were cleared; by 1870 over 60% of the original forests were gone. (Those that have grown back are "shadows of what they once were.") So too the vast prairies. "The natural system was being dismantled piece by piece." As a result, "water is no longer able to clean itself naturally, and despite our best legislative efforts our waterways are still impaired."<br />In the 1930s came the dams, (there are 50,000 dams in this country), altering and simplifying river systems. Then in the 1940s came thousands of new chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers.<br />Outwater makes a passionate and convincing case for bringing back beavers and prairie dogs to public lands.<br />This thesis is original enough, but what makes her book really wonderful is the way her mind works. It spans four centuries with ease and constant interconnection, weaving the mesmerizing story much like an ecosystem. She thinks systemically, illuminating for us a whole new take on the disaster that's called progress.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-16180944139320055582011-01-22T14:27:00.001-08:002011-01-22T14:32:35.743-08:00SnowI love snow.<br /><br />After November winds have finally stripped the trees, we can admire the intricate elegance of every twig, not to mention the impressive nests of squirrels and birds that have been hidden all summer. Then, just when the uniformity of landscape begins to pall, rain becomes white crystals that blanket and brighten the dark winter world.<br /><br />Can't dig out your car? Good! Put on your best boots and tramp through the fresh air. Be a child again, wonder at the transformation , the beauty.Take to your heart the natural systems of our precious planet, of which you are a part.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-52824419161071693432010-11-05T07:47:00.000-07:002010-11-05T07:54:29.558-07:00Loving autumnHere is the most beautiful poem I've ever read about this season. (Another sweet one is Keats'--"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.")<br /><br />This gem is by Richard Wilbur.<br /><br /><em>Asides</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>Though the season's begun to speak</em><br /><em>Its long sentence of darkness,</em><br /><em>The upswept boughs of the larch</em><br /><em>Bristle with gold for a week,</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>And then there is only the willow</em><br /><em>To make bright interjection,</em><br /><em>Its drooping branches decked</em><br /><em>With thin leaves, curved and yellow,</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>Till winter, loosening these</em><br /><em>With a first flurry and bluster,</em><br /><em>Shall scatter across the snow-crust</em><br /><em>Their dropped parentheses.</em><br /><br />Isn't it glorious?! The little gold parentheses scattered on the snow...Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-81320307289495902702010-09-12T07:58:00.000-07:002010-09-12T08:14:59.940-07:00mini book review: The End of the Long Summer<strong></strong><br />by Dianne Dumanoski, Crown Publishers 2009, 252 pp.<br /><br />I love this book. It's a brilliant gem. Basically, it takes the thoughts and premises of most environmental thinkers into the next realm of understanding. Wholistically, Dumanoski looks at the systemic disruption to Earth's metalbolism, while also examining "how our current modes of thinking fuel this emergency." The question, she says, is no longer simply how we can stop climate change, but how we can as a civilization <em>survive it. </em><br /><em></em><br />This masterpiece includes cultural critiques both detailed and broad, including the pitfalls of globalization, the role of the human brain, the temptations of technofix, our vulnerability to pandemic, and how to shock-proof our human social system.<br /><br />A new cultural map is needed, Dumanoski says, because "the routine business of our civilization is threatening its own survival."<br /><br />She wants us to actually THINK differently. I for one doubt that we can, but every bit of my spare time is spent trying to help it happen. What about you?<br /><br /><br /><em></em>Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-42610668029129520952010-09-06T07:25:00.000-07:002010-09-06T07:32:56.938-07:00New York Times Connects the DotsWow. Seeing the front page of the New York Times on August 15 brought a sigh of relief (a yelp! of relief) to us hardworking environmentalists. There it was: three big photos of climate change at work: Pakistan floods, Russian wildfires, and unusually wild storms in Chicago, headlined "In Weather Chaos, a Case for Global Warming."<br /><br />At last, big time media is getting it!<br /><br />The 8/15 issue came out the second day of my annual two week vacation in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. The juxtaposition of such beauty all around me, with this cultural acknowledgement of the planet's danger, was a jolt to my heart.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-10473125850620057912010-09-02T08:01:00.000-07:002010-09-02T08:05:02.306-07:00Next reading from my eco-thriller Human ScaleCome to my next reading at Out of the Blue Art Gallery on Sept 10 at 8 p.m. (106 Prospect Street in Cambridge). Human Scale, which came out in May (Plain View Press), is making waves with folks who were wondering what it's going to be like on this planet in 2062.<br /><br />See you there!Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-61616545580567870922010-07-19T08:51:00.000-07:002010-07-19T09:01:52.512-07:00I'm back from Gloucester, plus...Hi folks,<br /><br />I got back from Gloucester Saturday eve, after a glorious week by the sea. I always stay in Rocky Neck, which is "the oldest working art colony in the United States," in a little unit with kitchenette right on the water. (Literally: the building is on a wharf.)<br /><br />I'll be back in the swing of giving you my honest opinion about all things environmntal soon. Meanwhile, be excited by the news that my new novel Human Scale just won Honorable Mention in the Hollywood Book Festival contest.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-55736462467314658082010-06-21T07:59:00.000-07:002010-06-21T08:20:33.796-07:00Why I'm a Vegetarian (also: Your Dinner is an Oil Pit)Once upon a time I was a good meat-eating American girl, who devoured her mom's beef stews and Sunday hams. When I grew up, I too served my kids hamburgers, bacon, and lamb legs. I can still vaguely remember the taste.<br /><br />But I haven't eaten animals for twenty-five years now. The transformation began when, as an environmental journalist, I learned that farm animals are regularly shot full of antibiotics, mostly because of the unhealthy way they are forced to live. By the time I was writing about the Bovine Growth Hormone controversy in the late 80s, I was no longer eating red meat. Turkey and chicken soon followed.<br /><br />Right away I began to discover delicious alternatives to meat flavoring--recipes and cuisines that call for a wide array of spices. I was also surprised to learn not only how little protein people actually need, but how many other things contain protein, like beans, lentils, tofu, and even grains.<br /><br />Beside the fact that it's healthier for you to go meatless, and certainly healthier for the animals, environmental evidence is building about the damaging effects of livestock. In light of the current horrific oil spill, you should know that meat is very fuel intensive. More than a third of all fossil fuels produced in the U.S. goes towards animal agriculture. One calorie of animal protein requires more than ten times the fossil fuel input as a calorie of plant protein. That means ten times the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere.<br /><br />I once saw a cartoon of a man being followed by the ghosts of all the animals he'd eaten. It was quite a parade: sheep, chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs, all floating along after him as he strutted down the street. So I would add to my improved physical health and my socially responsible satisfaction, my spiritual health. In fact, the most important thing to me about being a vegetarian has become the animals not killed for me.<br /><br />I would take that even one step futher. I am proud that no animals at this very moment are leading miserable lives in order to become my dinner.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-67662762162019176212010-06-19T08:13:00.000-07:002010-06-19T08:29:59.323-07:00mini review: HOW TO COOL THE PLANET: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climateby Jeff Goodell. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2010. 277 pages.<br />Goodell also wrote Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future.<br /><br /> Geoengineering is the kind of word that wins spelling bees, or stuns someone you've just met at a party if you throw it off casually enough. A very impressive word.<br /><br /> What it means, in this book at least, is either removing CO2 from the atmosphere by binding it to particles, or deflecting solar rays back into space. Goodell's opinion of it is not high. "Geoengineering," he says, " is about turning the earth into the planetary equivalent of industrial farmland." Perhaps fortunately, none of the schemes come up with so far have much chance of working.<br /><br /> How to Cool the Planet is engagingly written, by a journalist, not an academic, which means it's easy to read. It's not written in journalistic form, however, but is a rumination covering history, utopian ideas, and tech fixes that didn't work, as well as current science. It includes a charming portrait of James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia theory.<br /><br /> Goodell ends with the warning question of who will control geoengineering. What if the military chooses to use it? Human nature may be the greatest risk here. The reader concludes that the author is a good, thoughtful, moral man. His ideas are well worth pondering. But his book can be safely skimmed.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-36998015864260026582010-06-14T07:48:00.000-07:002010-06-14T07:58:38.032-07:00Grieving for the OceanHi folks,<br /><br />I'm back from two weeks in Greece, and recovered from jetlag. It was breathtaking to witness where our civilization began thousands of years ago. They were amazing, creative people. I would like to think we are as civilized as they.<br /><br />What would they make of our polluting our ocean with 50,000 barrels of oil a day? We have the amazing technology to dig for it, but not to stop it once it's gushing out. Pretty pitiful.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-51038425135657930742010-05-14T15:09:00.000-07:002010-05-14T15:12:11.038-07:00Breaking NewsCheck out my new piece on what to expect from climate change, published on NewsBlaze:<br /><br /><a href="http://newsblaze.com/story/20100513175009zzzz.nb/topstory.html" target="_blank">http://newsblaze.com/story/20100513175009zzzz.nb/topstory.html</a><br /><br />Folks, I'm taking two weeks off but will return to entertain and inform you at the end of May.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-29570808190919378472010-04-23T08:44:00.001-07:002010-04-23T08:57:06.192-07:00Military Gifts Mother EarthOur planet got a present from the American military yesterday, Earth Day. The Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate issued a report showing how our armed forces are addressing their carbon emissions. The Department of Defense has set a goal of getting 25% of its electric energy from renewable sources by 2025. The military is also initiating energy-saving measures in all its operations from housing to vehicles.<br /><br />This makes total sense: The military's purpose is to protect us. What better way than to push towards energy independence? Then all those mothers' sons won't have to go to far off places to get killed or maimed for the sake of access to foreign oil. The only losers here are the makers of prosthetic limbs.<br /><br />I am proud to say that my father was an army captain in World War II. For three long years he was away from our family. Military spouses, parents, and children should only have to bear that pain of absence and loss for a really urgent reason.<br /><br /><br />Energy independence means far fewer will have to. It also happens to mean a cleaner Earth.Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-69089071715767522372010-04-11T07:29:00.000-07:002010-04-11T07:52:14.089-07:00Future of Energy?I went to a lecture at Harvard the other day. The speaker, Prof David MacKay, said, "This is a lecture about visualizing life without fossil fuels." <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Great</span>, I thought. That's what I'm doing in my novels.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">MacKay,</span> of Britain's University of Cambridge and their Department of Energy and Climate Change, has just <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">published</span> a book, <em>Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air. </em>It's meant for the layperson, and you can even download it for free.<br /><br />Delivered in a brisk, dramatic tone, the message of his lecture was very interesting, as far as it went. We heard that Americans use twice as much energy per person as Europeans, that we'll need a 90% cut in this use by 2050, and that even to begin to match today's use through alternates, we'd need so many wind turbines and solar panels, they'd crowd out people. We also got information about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">technofixes</span> like underwater windmills, solar heat storage and transfer, and smart grids that control demand.<br /><br />But the visualizing never got around to what life will be like. Prof <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">MacKay</span> did not try to picture for us what our grandchildren face. Perhaps he didn't dare. What a downer it would be! So we were informed and entertained, but not scared out of our wits.<br /><br />I wonder, does Prof. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">MacKay</span> ever really visualize the future? I'll bet he does. And I'll bet it keeps him awake at night.<br /><br /><br /><br />P.S. Using the word "energy" to mean fuel is only about 30 years old. But energy just sounds so much more cheerful and innocent, don't you think?Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798986020974531130.post-49509012863013454412010-04-01T13:55:00.000-07:002010-04-01T14:04:08.420-07:00Let's Drill Offshore!Hey, great idea. Instead of developing wind and solar power and better public transportation, let's dig out all the oil from this stupid old Earth that we can. Pump some more climate killing gasses into the air so we can all choke to death.<br /><br />No, we don't need all that exotic wildlife out there, like fish and birds. We need to take care of our own, the oil comany honchos who really know what's good for us. A few oilspills here and there, what's the difference? Tell those pinko enviros to stick it, all they care about is nature, you know, the natural world. Hokum. And they are subversives besides. Why else would they want to stop burning gasoline?<br /><br />Way to go, Obama. Now you're in power you can ignore all those wimpy, suspect folks who worked so hard to put you in office. Keep your eye on short term profit, never mind the future of the human race.<br /><br />April Fool!Planet Prospecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128970899964200792noreply@blogger.com0